Australia asks Indian media to ‘wait for full facts’

Australia today asked the Indian media to exercise restraint and “wait for the full facts” while reporting on alleged racism in this country, but feared the appeal would fall on “deaf ears.”

Acting Foreign Minister Simon Crean said it was too early to conclude that the recent attacks on Indians were racially motivated, an AAP report said.

“We are dealing with sensitive issues here, but the fact is... there is no evidence that they’re racially-based (attacks),” he said.

There has been a series of attacks on Indians, particularly students, in Australia over the last few months and the latest have resulted in two deaths, straining ties between the two countries.

Australia, however, has maintained that the latest attacks were not racist in nature, and cautioned against overreacting.

“It is far better to... wait for the full facts, we would urge the Indian newspapers to do that,” Mr. Crean said. “But I think that will fall on deaf ears in a number of cases because we are used to that,” he said, referring to the continuous reports in the Indian media following several attacks on Indian nationals.

Mr. Crean had yesterday expressed satisfaction over the Indian government’s “constructive and responsible advice” to the media to exercise restraint while reporting attacks on the community members here.